An article published in German tabloid Bild — in which Colombia’s capital Bogota is described as “the global hotbed of crime” — has enraged the city’s mayor who Saturday demanded a rectification.
In “Gauck’s dangerous trip,” a May 9 article about the German president Joachim Gauck’s trip to Bogota as part of a Latin American tour, the daily extensively described the security measures taken to protect the German president.
Thursday, 10 o’clock in Bogota’s Old Town: Federal President Joachim Glauck (73) and First Lady Daniela Schadt (53) energetically emerge from their armored limousine (a black G-class Mercedes with German national emblem). A harmless stroll under exceptional conditions.
Added to their own bodyguards are several hundred Colombian soldiers. Assault rifles, machine guns, grenades at hand. The teeming old town — a fortress. The reason: Bogota is the global hotbed of crime.
The German tabloid continues to explain why Bogota is one of the world’s most dangerous cities, citing the use of scopolamine to drug and rob victims, taxi robberies, kidnapping and a homicide rate of 16.
According to Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro, the picture painted by Bild is “slanderous” and due to the ignorance of reporter Ralf Schuler.
“It fails to show Bogota’s figure is 13 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, coming from a similar rate they had during the holocaust,” said Petro.
However, according to the capital city’s coroner’s office, Bogota’s homicide rate in 16.9.
FACT SHEET: Bogota crime statistics